title: Genomic clustering and co-regulation of transcriptional networks in the pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Genes for the production of a broad range of fungal secondary metabolites are frequently colinear. The prevalence of such gene clusters was systematically examined across the genome of the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. The topological structure of transcriptional networks was also examined to investigate control mechanisms for mycotoxin biosynthesis and other processes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The genes associated with transcriptional processes were identified, and the genomic location of transcription-associated proteins (TAPs) analyzed in conjunction with the locations of genes exhibiting similar expression patterns. Highly conserved TAPs reside in regions of chromosomes with very low or no recombination, contrasting with putative regulator genes. Co-expression group profiles were used to define positionally clustered genes and a number of members of these clusters encode proteins participating in secondary metabolism. Gene expression profiles suggest there is an abundance of condition-specific transcriptional regulation. Analysis of the promoter regions of co-expressed genes showed enrichment for conserved DNA-sequence motifs. Potential global transcription factors recognising these motifs contain distinct sets of DNA-binding domains (DBDs) from those present in local regulators.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Proteins associated with basal transcriptional functions are encoded by genes enriched in regions of the genome with low recombination. Systematic searches revealed dispersed and compact clusters of co-expressed genes, often containing a transcription factor, and typically containing genes involved in biosynthetic pathways. Transcriptional networks exhibit a layered structure in which the position in the hierarchy of a regulator is closely linked to the DBD structural class.
authors.affiliation: European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. katherine.lawler@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lawler
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hammond-Kosack
authors.forename: Alvis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brazma
authors.forename: Richard M R
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Coulson
mesh_terms: D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005670:Fusarium / Q000235:genetics*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins